Job skills coming to menu for Freeport Housing Authority residents

FREEPORT — Towanda Bankhead was denied when she applied for housing assistance about a year ago. She’d admittedly made mistakes in her life, but Freeport Housing Authority Executive Director Larry Williams decided that she deserved a second chance.

FREEPORT — Towanda Bankhead was denied when she applied for housing assistance about a year ago.

She’d admittedly made mistakes in her life, but Freeport Housing Authority Executive Director Larry Williams decided that she deserved a second chance.

“Larry and his staff have been outstanding to me,” Bankhead said. “It is an awesome feeling to know that you have people that you can call on at anytime for anything.”

Williams’s goal to create partnerships with FHA residents. He announced a new program to that end in his State of the Housing Authority address Thursday.

The FHA will establish a Workforce Development Institute this year aimed at providing job skills and a pathway to employment for residents.

The public-private partnership will allow residents to log 96 instruction hours and 12 work study/internship hours, then take WorkKeys tests to earn up to four levels of national certification — bronze, silver, gold and platinum — that are recognized by a growing number of employers as proof that a candidate possesses specific employment skills.

The WorkKeys tests are a component of the ACT college preparedness test. The Elgin School District has offered its students the opportunity to earn the National Career Readiness Certificate through ACT for more than five years.

In the Elgin area, more than 85 businesses use the test in some capacity, whether they look for the certification during the application process or administer the test to job applicants.

Costs for the FHA program have not been determined, but FHA residents will be eligible for scholarships.